Viking Lodge Has Bright Future

The smell of melting wax permeated Ulla and Plummer Dunkle's sunny Alburtis A-frame on a recent Saturday. From the basement filtered the sounds of happy chattering and infectious laughter.

Downstairs, activity was everywhere. Ulla Dunkle dipped a paintbrush into melted wax to glue delicate pressed dried flowers to the side of a candle. Plummer Dunkle, his fingers crusted with dried wax, gently dipped a candle in a kettle of simmering paraffin to seal it. In the corner, men told jokes as they meticulously shaved rough spots off candles, while at a nearby table piled with dried flowers, several women painted and decorated candles while trading stories of families and times gone by.

"It's like a big party," said Nancy Thenstedt, pausing at a table laden with Swedish goodies such as pepparkakor (ginger cookies) and home-made sockerkaka (sugar cake). "The camaraderie becomes the plus."

In the back, the finished products await a final coat of acrylic gloss. Candles, large and small, sport pressed leaves, lacy ferns, dried pansies and assorted wildflowers. By the end of the day there will be more than 700 of the unique candles completed and ready to be wrapped in cellophane and tied with ribbon.

"We started at 10 and by 5 we'll be finished," said Thenstedt confidently. "We have a lot of hands. By the end of the day, we'll have the bulk done."

For the past year the group, all members of the Viking Lodge 735 which meets in Moorestown, has been making the candles inspired by an unusual candle the Dunkles bought on a recent trip.

"My husband and I found a candle in Sweden and liked it," explained Ulla Dunkle. "Back here, we needed a fund-raiser and the candle was our inspiration."

According to Plummer Dunkle, candles are an important part of Swedish culture.

"Because of the long winters they use a lot of candles," he said. "At Christmas, many people still put real candles on their trees."

The group, which uses the money raised for student scholarships, used to organize a Scandinavian Festival in New Jersey as its primary fund-raiser, but gave up the festival after it became larger than the group could handle.

"It was a big job," said Thenstedt. "It started as a picnic but as groups found out about it, it got bigger. It was a very nice forum for Scandinavian traditions and customs, but...it became a place for family reunions."

"It grew beyond what we could do," added Plummer Dunkle. "But it was like giving your kid away."

The festival, now held in the fall at Waterloo Village in New Jersey, was taken over by an independent group, although the Vikings remain involved and now sell candles there.

With the passing of the festival, the group was looking for a new fund-raiser when it decided on the candles.

"This is another offshoot that has worked out very well," said Thenstedt. "It brought the lodge members closer together."

"It helped to unite us as a group and refocus," agreed Plummer Dunkle.

At first the group floundered trying to duplicate the Dunkles' Swedish candle. They finally enlisted the help of Joannie Snyder, a Bethlehem candle-maker.

"When we were first getting started, we didn't know what to do," admitted Plummer Dunkle. "The first time we went to Joannie's, she just about died of laughter because we were doing it all wrong. We made a mess."

"The first time we got wax all over the floor and we were sliding in it," said Elaine Stewart.

Despite those early disasters and with Stewart's help, the Vikings soon developed a system that worked.

"In the beginning nobody thought they were very artistic," said Plummer Dunkle. What's amazing is the ones who thought they were not artistic turn out the prettiest candles."

Inspired by tea lights she saw in Sweden, Ulla also began to paint small candles with acrylic designs that remain as the candle burns down.

"You don't know what talents people have," said Thenstedt. "Someone starts working and you see they have an eye for placement."

All the members are encouraged to pick plants and flowers and press them, said Ulla Dunkle.

Member Bill Schierer, a shop teacher from the Reading School District, also made a wooden flower press patterned after a Swedish design for the group.

"It's easier than pressing the flowers using papers and weights," said Ulla Dunkle. In addition to using flowers, the Vikings put other Scandinavian designs on the candles.

"We use a little bit of this and that," said Plummer Dunkle. "No two are alike."

Hildegard Stoeltzing carefully trimmed a picture of a toy horse out of Swedish wrapping paper.

"This is dala hest, the first toy in Sweden," she said. "We use anything typical of Scandinavia."

Last year the candles were a big hit at the Scandinavian Fest as well as at the Muhlenberg College craft show where they sold out. This year, the group plans to sell the candles at more venues including the Scandinavian mid-summer festival June 20 at the County College of Morris, in Randolph, N.J.